October 2, 2013
Chariho Middle School
CT: Stephen Cormier
7th/8th Grade Science
Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement? How will use your proximity to provide feedback and manage student behavior?
Observation:
On my second visit to my middle school cooperating teacher, class periods were shortened due to NECAP testing and each class only had time for one activity. The seventh graders made hypotheses regarding the classic demonstration of a hot soda can being put into an ice bath. The eighth graders reviewed use of topographical maps as a warm-up and then began drawing diagrams of other things that demonstrate one of the six forces investigated in the six stations from last week. As my cooperating teacher led discussions or explained directions, he was very active and continually moving about the room. In this way, students were never isolated in the back of the classroom for long. All the students quietly wrote in their science notebooks or contributed to the discussion, from those in the back to the ones up near the front. Anytime a student was distanced from the teacher, postures were more slumped but they still paid attention. Some quiet side conversations occurred, and one boy was reading a book, but all instances were quickly stopped by my cooperating teacher, demonstrating his "withitness" and effective classroom management.
Reflection:
My cooperating teacher uses technology (primarily a Smart Board) and various demonstrations to engage his students into the content of the lesson. Warm-ups and homework are easily pulled up on to the screen and reviewed right in front of the class. If my cooperating teacher wants to illustrate a point or write ideas, he can like a traditional board. During discussions he is continually moving around, talking at each table and to most students. My cooperating teacher will ask questions about concepts to help recall or ask students what they think in order to asses student knowledge. I love the idea of a conversational flow in a whole-class discussion. I want students to feel like participants and the doers for where we need to go in a lesson. As a future teacher, I want to facilitate and not dictate, similar to what my cooperating teach accomplishes with his students.
Part of his questions came after a demonstration. This was done so he could discover and clear up possible misconceptions. The demonstration provided a paradigm changing experience for students with preconceived notions about items going from very hot to very cold in a short period of time. By clearing up student misconceptions prior to the demonstration and connecting the experience to new knowledge of air density and atmospheric pressure, my cooperating teacher facilitated the construction of new knowledge for his students, like what was suggested in "Taking Science to School."
My cooperating teacher may be confined to science kits and middle school curriculum, and therefore does not have the range of freedom in creativity like David Burgess in "Teach Like a Pirate," but he is still able to reach all his students and provide engaging lessons. And if students are not engaged in what they are learning, they are not gaining learning experiences.
Classroom Diagram:
Yellow = door
Blue = student seat
Green = teacher area (desk, lab bench, storage)
Black = board (either chalk board or SmartBoard)
Purple = CT's path around classroom (asterisks mark start and finish)
Visit #2
October 2, 2013Chariho Middle School
CT: Stephen Cormier
7th/8th Grade Science
Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement? How will use your proximity to provide feedback and manage student behavior?
Observation:
On my second visit to my middle school cooperating teacher, class periods were shortened due to NECAP testing and each class only had time for one activity. The seventh graders made hypotheses regarding the classic demonstration of a hot soda can being put into an ice bath. The eighth graders reviewed use of topographical maps as a warm-up and then began drawing diagrams of other things that demonstrate one of the six forces investigated in the six stations from last week. As my cooperating teacher led discussions or explained directions, he was very active and continually moving about the room. In this way, students were never isolated in the back of the classroom for long. All the students quietly wrote in their science notebooks or contributed to the discussion, from those in the back to the ones up near the front. Anytime a student was distanced from the teacher, postures were more slumped but they still paid attention. Some quiet side conversations occurred, and one boy was reading a book, but all instances were quickly stopped by my cooperating teacher, demonstrating his "withitness" and effective classroom management.
Reflection:
My cooperating teacher uses technology (primarily a Smart Board) and various demonstrations to engage his students into the content of the lesson. Warm-ups and homework are easily pulled up on to the screen and reviewed right in front of the class. If my cooperating teacher wants to illustrate a point or write ideas, he can like a traditional board. During discussions he is continually moving around, talking at each table and to most students. My cooperating teacher will ask questions about concepts to help recall or ask students what they think in order to asses student knowledge. I love the idea of a conversational flow in a whole-class discussion. I want students to feel like participants and the doers for where we need to go in a lesson. As a future teacher, I want to facilitate and not dictate, similar to what my cooperating teach accomplishes with his students.
Part of his questions came after a demonstration. This was done so he could discover and clear up possible misconceptions. The demonstration provided a paradigm changing experience for students with preconceived notions about items going from very hot to very cold in a short period of time. By clearing up student misconceptions prior to the demonstration and connecting the experience to new knowledge of air density and atmospheric pressure, my cooperating teacher facilitated the construction of new knowledge for his students, like what was suggested in "Taking Science to School."
My cooperating teacher may be confined to science kits and middle school curriculum, and therefore does not have the range of freedom in creativity like David Burgess in "Teach Like a Pirate," but he is still able to reach all his students and provide engaging lessons. And if students are not engaged in what they are learning, they are not gaining learning experiences.
Classroom Diagram:
Yellow = door
Blue = student seat
Green = teacher area (desk, lab bench, storage)
Black = board (either chalk board or SmartBoard)
Purple = CT's path around classroom (asterisks mark start and finish)